Jehovah Rapha – Our Lord Who Heals - 10 Oct 2008

"For I am the Lord who heals you" Exodus 15:26

 

Yet another God-incidence - I have just returned from our day of Pastoral Prayer Ministry with Mary Pytches & Prue Bedwell.  I had not booked to go but my mum went on holiday and gave me her ticket – what a gift!

 

At this point on my journey with God, Jehovah Rapha is right where I'm at.  Two months ago God led me to begin the 'Rapha' course, for personal healing and wholeness, today was like a mini version of it – wonderful!  God continually wants to do spiritual surgery on us and if done right it hurts, but feeling is healing, it leads to redemption & restoration, enabling us to become more like Jesus.

 

After becoming a Christian, although God healed many areas of my life, I did not allow him access to every area of my heart to 'clean house'.  Instead of continuing to work on changing myself it was easier to try and change others "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?" – There it is -  I was full of timber and still can be!

 

I had experienced forgiveness from God and had forgiven others, but I needed cleansing – since beginning this deeper journey God has revealed, by his spirit, many hurts and fears, transference from my childhood I had just buried, much I didn't realise I even had. 

I was full of timber and had put many coping mechanisms (we all have them) in place in order to try and hide my character defects, it's spiritual baggage.  What do you still carry? Fear, worry, anger, unrighteous hate, self-worth, trauma, revenge, guilt, shame, abuse, inherited sin, pride, arrogance, rejection, ego, sexual sin, manipulation, blame, control, words/curses, self-righteousness, denial ?......God offends the mind to reveal the heart, because "the truth sets us free" and he wants to HEAL us.

 

At New Wine I watched a leg grow before my eyes, obviously one was shorter than the other to start with! It was awesome, but what good is looking balanced on the outside if inside we are still off-balance.  When I feel off balance the problem is normally in the mirror, ACCEPTANCE is the key, God accepts us as we are but loves us too much to leave us that way – will you allow him to 'access all areas' - "Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus" Philippians 1:6 

 

God's desire, his will, is that you are 'Dying to Change' (a book by Mary Pytches), Jehovah Rapha invites you this weekend to 'The Shack' (by William P Young), there's still work he wants to do.